dxld0148
DX LISTENING DIGEST 0-148, December 2, 2000
edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com
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** BHUTAN. Monitored schedule of BBS as of Nov 30, all on 6035:
0100-0300 Bhutanese
0300-0400 English
0300-0310 News
0310-0315 Announcements, Bus route news, weather, flight news
0315-0330 Short talk followed by English songs
0330-0335 News in brief
0335 English song
0338 What the star foretells (Aries to Pisces)
0345 English songs
0350 Region in the News (short talk)
0355 English song
0400-0500 Nepali - News at 0400 (10')
0500-0600 Bhutanese (may be a different dialect)
0800-0900 English
0800-0810 News
0810-0815 Announcements
0815-0830 UN Radio (Thursdays only)
0830-0900 English songs
0900-1000 Nepali - News at 0900 (10')
1000-1230 Bhutanese
Sa/Su continues the same sked as before (Alok das Gupta, India,
Electronic DX Press Dec 2 via DXLD)
** BHUTAN: According to a telephone interview, BBS now broadcasts on
6035 kHz, in parallel with FM channels, as follows: Mon-Fri: 0100-0600
and 0800-1230. (0100 Dzongkha, 0300 English, 0400 Lhotsam, 0500
Sharchopkha; 0800 English, 0900 Lhotsam, 1000 Sharchopkha, 1100
Dzongkha); Sat/Sun: 0400-1100 (0400 Dzongkha, 0800 Sharchopkha, 0900
Lhotsam, 1000 English.)
According to a local weekly paper Kuensel, the morning service was
introduced on November 11 (which falls on the King's birthday) with
help from a short term consultant from Deutsche Welle. English
program (daily feature after news/info) now reads as follows:
Mon: Morning: Religion, Agriculture & Cooking;
0815: Education calling teachers
Tue: Morning: Career scope, Youth & story telling;
0815: Topical
Wed: Morning: Religion, Agriculture & Cooking;
0815: Buddhism series
Thu: Morning: Career scope, Youth & story telling;
0815: UN calling Asia
Fri: Morning: Religion, Agriculture & Cooking;
0815: Bhutan this week
Sat: 1015: Thimphu top 10 countdown
Sun: 1015: Weekend Request Show
I did not have enough time to monitor the morning service, but they
had a news bulletin at 0800 and 0830.
Full story on Kuensel (Nov. 4, 2000), by Palden Tshering:
BBS to capture listeners with morning broadcasts:
THE BHUTAN Broadcasting Service's radio programmes will be broadcast
to listeners around the kingdom starting from the early morning and
ending in the early evening beginning on November 11.
Starting transmission at seven am news headlines will be read during
every 30 minute intervals followed by the news on the hour.
Aside from a two hour break between noon and two pm the news segments
will be broadcast till six thirty pm where transmission will then
end.
Speaking to the BBS spokesman, "We are trying to get people into the
habit of listening to the radio in the morning hours, mornings are
the prime time hours for listeners all over the world."
The idea has been one that existed for a long time but was unable to
be put into practice until now, the spokesman said.
"There was a high demand from the public to have more broadcast
hours. The morning segments will focus on education and information
so when people go to work they have an idea of what's happening."
He added that later in the day people progressed to newspapers, and
the television for their information source but the mornings which
usually are active allow people to just have enough time to switch on
their radio while they go about getting ready and listening to the
broadcast.
Explaining the difference from the morning programmes to the ones
that already exist, a short term consultant from Radio Deutsche Well
[sic] helping the BBS prepare for their November 11 radio launch said
that the character of the morning programmes will be different.
"The programmes will be designed to cater to the needs of the people
in an attractive way."
He added that it would diversify throughout the day with
advertisements, weather forecasts, bus schedules, Druk Air schedule
and road conditions.
"We will work within the structure and from there move ahead, in the
future we could be looking at full day broad casts by just filling
the gaps," the BBS spokesman said.
(Tetsuya Hirahara, visiting Bhutan from Nov.19-27, Dec 2, DX
LISTENING DIGEST) And so westernisation proceeds... (gh)
** BULGARIA. Note: Although reported elsewhere that Falun Dafa Radio
is the first clandestine radio program broadcast via Bulgaria,
Bulgaria in fact historically broadcast programs sponsored by Soviet
intelligence:
Voice of Truth (anti-Greece), 1958-1975; Our Radio (pro-Turkish
Communist Party) 1958-1980's; and Radio Iran Courier (Tudeh Party)
1960-1976 (CRW Team, Clandestine Radio Watch Nov 30 via DXLD)
** CANADA. 6130, CHNX: Mark Olson tells us they are off again
for the moment (Hans Johnson, Dec 1, Cumbre DX via DXLD)
** CHINA. CNR4 - Minorities Language Network, latest schedule:
Kazakh 0130-0227 15670 11630 11375 10260, 1400-1457 11630 10260 9390
8566 5440*
Korean 1000-1057 9920 8566, 2130-2227 5420 4190
Mongolian 2230-2327 5420 4190, 1100-1157 9920 4190 6195* 4785* 4525*,
1500-1557 11630 10260 9390 8566 5060*
Tibetan 2330-0027 15670 12080 11710 11375, 1200-1257 12080 11740 9565
9390 8566 6200* 6130* 6110 5995* 5950* 4820* 4035*
Uyghur 0030-0127 15670 11630 11375 10260, 1300-1357 11630 10260 9390
8566 5800*
* denotes relay via Provincial station
(Nagoya DXers` Circle via EDXP Dec 2 via DXLD)
** COSTA RICA. RFPI`s new 6-hour repeat cycle confirmed started Dec
1; e.g. CONTINENT OF MEDIA at new time of 0100 UT Sat Dec 2 still on
15049 only, actually 6 minutes late at 0106, followed by WORLD OF
RADIO, and again in the 1300 hour (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA [non]. Radio Xoriyo (Radio Freedom)
R. Freedom (Voice of Ogadeni People), 15715 kHz, No data e-mail
reply in 10 days. Report sent to ogaden@yahoo.com, v/s: Ogaden
Online Staff (K. Hashimoto, Japan, Nov 19, 2000 for Clandestine Radio
Watch via DXLD) A screenshot of the QSL can be found via
http://www.clandestineradio.com/martin/bild-cla.html or at
http://www.clandestineradio.com/martin/piccla/xor-kjy.jpg (CRW)
** FINLAND. Hi, here some details about the Pori site, which also
makes clear what the "YLE DIG" entries in the HFCC files actually
mean. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, DXLD)
Operator of the shortwave facilities of Yleisradio Oy is Digita Oy, a
subsidiary company of Yleisradio which was founded in 1999. The
current site is situated 15 km outside the town of Pori in a forest
on the coast and was established in 1987 as replacement for the old
site inmidst the city, which was not suitable for high power
transmitters.
The equipment was delivered by ABB (Brown Boveri) and consists on a
100 kW fixed-frequency transmitter for 6120 kHz as well as three 500
kW transmitters with pulse-step modulation system. The 500 kW
transmitters are capable to run SSB with a PEP of 1000 kW; it was
believed that SSB will be the future mode for shortwave broadcasting
when the facilities was designed. A 600 kW mediumwave transmitter is
available for operation on 963 kHz. Alongside with these new
transmitters a 250 kW Brown Boveri shortwave unit from the old
station, built in 1976, is still in use at the new site.
The transmitters are connected to the aërials through a matrix of 92
switches. A 185 metre tall mast is in use as mediumwave antenna. The
shortwave antenna farm occupies 40 hectares, 13 towers up to 75
metres tall support 10 TCI curtain arrays, a rotatable log-periodic
from Rohde & Schwarz is mounted on a 40 metre tall concrete tower.
All shortwave aerials at a glance:
MHz
# type range AZI slew design. targets
1 HRS 4/4/1.0 11-21 310 +/-15 NAm
2 HRS 4/4/1.0 9-17 310 +/-15 NAm
3 HRS 4/3/0.5 9-17 240 +/-15 SAm, Eu
4 HRS 4/4/1.0 11-21 240 +/-15 SAm, Af
5 HR 2/1/0.4 6 240 no NEu (6120 kHz)
6 HR 2/2/0.5 6-11 220 no WEu
7 HRS 4/4/1.0 11-21 160 +/-30 ME, Af
8 HRS 4/3/0.5 9-17 160 +/-30 ME, Af
9 HRS 4/4/1.0 9-17 75 +/-15 FE
10 HRS 4/4/1.0 11-21 75 +/-15 FE
11 LP 6-26 60...310 all
The programming from Helsinki is fed to Pori through a digital
microwave link. Currently the station operates as follows:
kHz UTC kW deg CIRAF
6055 0630-0700 500 220 27, 28
6095 0400-0500 250 130 29
6120 0500-2300 100 240 18, 27, 28
6120 0600-0630 500 220 27, 28
6120 1730-2130 500 220 27, 28
6135 1700-1800 250 130 29
6180 0800-0900 250 80 19, 29
6180 1400-1430 250 80 19, 29
6190 2100-2200 250 130 29
9510 0700-0930 500 240 27,55,59,60
9560 0700-0800 500 190 27, 28, 37
9560 0900-1000 500 190 27, 28
9580 0030-0100 500 75 43, 44
9630 1500-2000 500 225 27, 36, 37
9655 0100-0330 500 310 4, 6, 7, 10
9715 0500-0600 500 325 6, 7
9745 0500-0630 250 130 29
9815 2130-2230 500 90 44,49,50,55,59
9830 0200-0330 500 240 12-14
9835 1400-1430 500 75 29, 30
9865 0500-0630 500 175 28S,38,39,48,53
9885 1430-1500 500 75 29, 30, 44, 45
11690 0030-0100 500 90 43,44,50,55,59
11755 0500-0630 500 160 28S,38,39,48,53
11755 0630-1700 500 220 27, 36, 37
11755 1200-1300 500 175 28S
11755 1500-1730 500 175 28S
11755 1700-2100 500 225 27, 28, 36, 37
11870 1430-1500 500 75 29, 30, 44, 45
12015 2130-2230 500 90 43, 44, 50, 55, 59
12035 0100-0330 500 310 4, 7, 8, 10
13685 1030-1300 500 225 27, 36, 37N
15400 1300-1400 500 310 4, 7-9, 11
15400 1500-1600 500 325 4, 6, 7, 10
17615 0930-1000 500 75 30-33
17660 1300-1400 500 310 4, 7-9, 11
21670 0700-1000 500 75 43, 44, 50, 55
21800 1000-1200 500 75 43, 44, 50, 55
21800 1200-1300 500 240 12-14
21810 1600-1700 500 175 38, 48, 53, 57
(Compiled from a report in the German "Radio Kurier" magazine 23-
24/00, written by Gerhard Roleder; schedule extracted from HFCC file;
via Kai Ludwig, Dec 1, DXLD)
** ROMANIA. Spurs from 7145:
6925 2240 1/12/00 ROM R Romania (dom prg) (7145) Poor
6980 2238 1/12/00 ROM R Romania (domestic Prog) (7145 putting out
spurs every 55khz)
7035 2234 1/12/00 ROM R Romania (domestic prog) (spur from 7145) Fair
7090 2233 1/12/00 ROM R Romania(domestic prog) (spur from 7145)
Huge!, Stronger and louder mod than 7145 but with huge mains hum,
Hip-Hop mx, Tom Jones mx, teletlk \\ 6040 khz (Tim Bucknall, UK,
harmonics@egroups.com via DXLD)
** RUSSIA. According to its program schedule, the Russian-language
VoR began relaying UN Radio News in Russian Monday through Friday at
approximately 1645, 1845 and 2045. The RealAudio files of these
programs are downloadable at ftp://ftp.vor.ru/blo (Sergei Sosedkin,
Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. I must have missed an announcement of a frequency change.
VOR was very strong here from 0200 UTC on 7180 and later on 7125. I
have been unable to hear them lately on these frequencies or any
other frequency. If you are hearing VOR during the NAm evenings,
please tell me where to go (Joe Buch, DE, Dec 1, swprograms via DXLD)
** RUSSIA. I also have not been picking them up [VOR in English] on
7180 lately. I have had luck on 13665 and (even better) 15470 at
0200-0400. Their morning 1500 broadcast on 7180 is audible but not
intelligible here in Minnesota (Mike Joy, swprograms Dec 1 via DXLD)
** RUSSIA. Glenn: Here's a new, expanded schedule of VoR in Russian
distributed by Pavel Mikhailov, a host of VoR`s Klub DX. At least two
last evenings VoR was absent from 7125 (Sergei Sosedkin, MI, Dec 1,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
RADIO "VOICE OF RUSSIA" - RUSSIAN WORLD SERVICE
TIME/FREQUENCY SCHEDULE FOR WINTER PERIOD' 2000-2001
(Effective from December 1st, 2000; Time -- UTC; Frequencies -- kHz)
----------------------------------------------------------------
To EUROPE:
02.00-04.00 = 648h, 1215d kHz
13.00-15.00 = 693f, 999g, 1143c, 1215d, 1323e
15.00-16.00 = 999g, 1143c, 1314j, 6185h, 7170i, 7185j
16.00-17.00 = 1143c, 7170i
18.00-19.00 = 648h, 5950, 7170i, 7205*, 7340**
20.00-21.00 = 612***, 693f, 1215d, 7170i, 7205*, 7310*, 9905, 12030**
21.00-22.00 = 612***, 693f, 999g, 1215d, 7205*, 7340**, 7370, 9480*,
9905, 12000*
To ASIA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND and PACIFIC:
02.00-04.00 = 648h
13.00-14.00 = 6185h, 7155, 7205, 7315a*, 9490a*, 9900a**, 15460
14.00-15.00 = 1251, 7155, 7205, 7315*, 9490a*, 9875a**, 9900, 15460
16.00-17.00 = 6185h
18.00-19.00 = 648h, 6185h
To NEAR and MIDDLE EAST:
13.00-14.00 = 648
16.00-17.00 = 612b***, 1314, 7315*, 9875**, 11695** 12030
To the WESTERN HEMISPHERE:
02.00-04.00 = 7125, 7260, 9480++, 9810+, 12030+++,
12000, 15445, 15595, 17565*, 17595*, 17660, 21755*
To CAUCASIAN region:
16.00-17.00 }
18.00-19.00 } = 171 kHz LW, 7185 kHz SW
20.00-22.00 }
To BELORUSSIA: Relays on VHF Range (65,5...74,0 MHz) via local
transmitters, and on the 3rd Channel of a Wire (Cable) Radio Network.
----------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES: *) Till March, 6th; **) Since March, 6th;
***) For Moscow Region;
a) For Australia Specially;
b) Only on Mo., Tu., Th., Su.;
ñ) For Baltic countries and St. Petersburg region;
d) For Northern Europe;
e) For Paris and Central France;
f) For Berlin region (Germany);
g) For Belorussia, Moldova and Ukraine;
h) For Central Asia (Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan);
i) For Baltic countries and Ukraine;
j) For Caucasian region;
+) Till March 4th, 2001;
++) Till March 25th, 2001;
+++) On March 5 - 25, 2001.
IMPORTANT! THE QUALITATIVE RECEPTION IS POSSIBLE IF YOU LISTEN TO US
AT THE TIME AND ON FREQUENCIES APPROPRIATED TO AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO
YOUR REGION ONLY! ===================== (via S. Sosedkin, DXLD)
Tnx, but I wish VOR would get away from schedules with all these
annotations, making them so hard to read and comprehend. Issue a new
schedule every month, if necessary (gh, DXLD)
** SOUTH AMERICA. -Times UTC *RADIO COCHIGUAZ will be active hoisting
the pirate flag, on 11440 khz USB, according to this schedule:
-Sat 2 Dec 2000 ->
2000-2100 "Q 103" Jazzlighthouse ->
2100-2200 Dark Pampa Radio ->
2200-2300 "Q 103" Jazzlighthouse
Our technician moved now the crystal to the exact fq. of 11440 USB,
and we will repeat the same stations because the bad propagation of
the past weekend. -For reports write to: (Pls add return postage) -"Q
103" Jazzlighthouse, Ostra Porten 29, 44254 Ytterby, SWEDEN. Email:
jazzlighthouse@gmx.li -DPR, Casilla 5251, 1000 Buenos Aires,
ARGENTINA or, also via DPR, Casilla 159, Santiago 14, CHILE. Email:
darkpampa@iname.com -Radio Cochiguaz, Box 159, Santiago 14, CHILE.
FFFR, ;-) (Cachito, Radio Cochiguaz op.
http://members.xoom.com/rcochiguaz/ hard-core-dx via DXLD)
** U K. UK extends 73 kHz authorization: The Radiocommunications
Agency in the UK has announced a three-year extension to the 73-kHz
Amateur Radio allocation there until June 30, 2003. The allocation
has been available to hams in the UK since 1996. It was due to be
withdrawn completely at the end of June. The Radio Society of Great
Britain says the RA agreed to the extension because experimentation
on 73 kHz has been slower than anticipated due to the high-noise
floor towards the top end of the allocation. The RSGB said that
additional work is under way on how propagation is affected by the
current enhanced solar flare activity (RSGB via ARRL Letter December
1 via John Norfolk, OKCOK)
** U S A. PBS to air Tesla: Master of Lightning. PBS will air the
documentary Tesla: Master of Lightning Tuesday, December 12 (check
local listings for time and channel) about the life and
accomplishments of inventor Nikola Tesla (1853-1943). Actor Stacy
Keach will provide the voice of Tesla for the sesquihour presentation.
A Web site, http://www.pbs.org/tesla/index.html, will serve as the
on-line companion to the acclaimed documentary. A contemporary of
Thomas Edison and Guglielmo Marconi, Tesla--a Serbian immigrant to
the US--is credited with being the inventor of our system of ac power
transmission and even of radio. The book, Tesla: Master of Lightning,
by Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth, is reviewed in December QST, page
37. (PBS via ARRL Letter December 1 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Will I ever run out of nits to pick?? This is only a split
second, but it`s annoying and has been going on for a very long time,
and does not have to be that way. Don`t the propagation forecasters
on WWV at :18 past the hours ever listen to themselves? Quite often,
at least half the time I listen, I would guess, their announcement is
upcut. That is, instead of ``Solar terrestrial conditions...`` it is
``Olar terrestrial conditions...`` or even ``Lar terrestrial
conditions...``! Reminds me of a Bob & Ray routine. They need to
pause a beat after pushing the record button. Of course they
sometimes have to hurry, and don`t always succeed either in finishing
in under 45 seconds, or they WILL be cut off at the end in order not
to overlap the WWVH ID (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. The trees are lit, the wreaths are in the windows, anxious
teens are trying to find the most innocuous spots to hang mistletoe,
shoppers are overspending, the grandparents overindulging the
grandkids, and we still haven`t gotten an official president-elect
yet. Yes, it`s that time of the year when we forget whose birthday
we`re supposed to be celebrating and perform the pagan ritual of
going into debt.
That means that it`s time for A Different Kind Of Oldies Show`s
Christmas Special. This time we`re doing it in 4 parts over 4
consecutive weekends! We'll feature a different aspect each week. On
December 2nd we`ll be on WBCQ live with those Christmas novelties.
We`ll hear from The Three Stooges, Spike Jones, The Royal Guardsmen,
Mel Blanc and, of course, Stan Freberg.
December 9th is the weekend for Pop Christmas oldies. The show will
also feature some crossovers. Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Gene Autry,
Bobby Darin and Bing Crosby are scheduled for airplay.
Rock N` Roll and R&B are on tap for December 16, with the likes of
Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, The Four Seasons, Ray Charles and Charles
Brown.
On December 23rd it`s a Doo-Wop Christmas with The Five Keys,
Orioles, Platters and some Acapella versions of your Christmas
favorites.
Join us on the web via live365.com or over the air on WBCQ shortwave
Saturday nights at 8PM Eastern Time, that's 5PM Pacific or 0100
UTC-Sunday morning. Over the air, WBCQ is at 7415 kHz. On the web, go
to our website, http://bigsteve.wbcq.net and click on MP3 Audio
Stream from the menu. You will see 3 choices on the next frame. At
any time you can click on "Listen" if you have a 33.6 connection or
"Listen In Stereo" if you have a 56k connection or better. Our show
is repeated 24hours a day, 7 days a week starting at 8PM ET on
Saturday night if the show is pre recorded. If we were live, the
repeats will begin early on Sunday Morning. BECAUSE WE WILL BE LIVE
ON DEC. 2nd, only the next choice, "WBCQ Programming", will work,
and ONLY when we are on the air. Once you select that choice you will
then be sent to a menu at live365.com. Select the "WBCQ Studio Feed".
This only requires a 28.8 connection.
Are you hosting your own oldies/doo-wop show on the air or over the
web? Want the exposure of being on a 50,000 watt worldwide radio
station? Maybe you play pretend Dee Jay at home with a disco mixer?
Well you can take control of a Different Kind Of Oldies Show for one
weekend in January by winning our "Anyone Can Host Contest". Get your
tape recorders ready and pick out some records to play. We want to
hear your audition tape, (or CD, or MP3 file). It should be
approximately 10 minutes long and the music should be scoped out.
Please do not ask us to tune in your show on the web. Only submitted
audio files or tapes are acceptable as auditions.
Send your tape or CD to Steve Coletti, P.O. Box 396, New York, NY
10002. Closing Date is 12/22/00. Include your phone number and e-mail
address with your entry. No entries will be returned. Next week I`ll
announce an upload location or hours I`ll have ICQ available for
submission of MP3 or RA/RM audio files. Winners will be announced on
12/30/00 on the show. Winners will be required to produce a final
show using certain timing and content guidelines and have it
submitted no later than January 13, 2001.
--
"Big Steve" Coletti
A Different Kind Of Oldies Show on WBCQ, 7415kHz Shortwave
Saturday Evenings at 8:00 ET, 0100 UT Sunday or
24/7 on http://www.live365.com, open MP3 player to
http://216.32.166.82:7970
bigsteve@dorsai.org bigstevecole@email.com http://bigsteve.wbcq.net
US Mail: P.O. Box 396, New York, NY 10002 (via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRNO`s transmitter is an amateur radio unit that is rated
at 1 kW max. Used as a broadcast transmitter, they are transmitting
at about 100 watts. Having said that, it does go into their log
periodic antenna. Note that this transmitter can only operate on
7355 and 7395 nominal, not on listed 15420. I am told that they
continue to use one of the 7 MHz frequencies at times they are
scheduled for 15420. They have a few other programs on the weekend,
otherwise they air the Overcomer with Brother Stair. It is a bit
harder to hear, but it hasn`t been off any time in the recent past.
Heard almost every night in Wyoming over the summer, albeit weak.
Valko reported much stronger signals from PA (via Hans Johnson, AZ,
Nov 29, Cumbre DX via DXLD)
** U S A. WGTG becomes WWFV: Good grief -- I visited their webpage,
and what a bunch of @#&$%@#$ !! Here is some misinformation that`s
almost laughable, taken from their webpage:
"...In the next few years, in accordance with international
government mandates, ALL shortwave radio stations will be required by
international law to convert their transmitting facilities to the
Single Side Band mode of operation (this mandate could be amended in
the future as technology advances.) ..." Have I been asleep here? Uh,
what mandates are these folks talking about? (Richard Cuff,
swprograms Dec 1 via DXLD)
All this is off the top of my head so the dates could be wrong and
I`m too lazy to research it. In the early 1990s there was an ITU
edict/recommendation that member governments enact regulations
requiring a transition from AM with full carrier to SSB with
partially or fully suppressed carrier. They set a date for completion
around 2005 or some such.
ITU hoped the use of SSB would relieve spectral congestion.
A few real SW broadcasters have also tried SSB including Radio Habana
Cuba, HCJB, and Austria. These test transmissions have uncovered some
problems with this approach. The main problems are:
1. SSB sans carrier is hard to tune in closely enough to allow proper
music reproduction. Doppler shifts caused by ionospheric fluctuations
prevent adjusting the receiver inserted carrier to closer than a few
Hertz. People handicapped by perfect pitch like our own Hausie
Hausenfluck and Marie Lamb cannot stand to listen to music via SSB-
SC. You can run a little experiment to measure this effect. If you
can hear both WWV and YVTO on 5 MHz, listen to them when their signal
strengths are about the same. YVTO is off frequency a few Hertz. You
can hear the low frequency beat between the two stations. You can
also hear the beat frequency changing slightly as ionospheric effects
cause the received signal frequencies to wander. So an SSB signal
will wander randomly in frequency a few Hertz with reference to the
re-inserted carrier when the signal bounces off the ionosphere.
2. Compatibility issues with existing receivers that cannot receive
SSB or possibly tune to the SSB signal with the proper precision.
3. SSB with carrier à la Austria worked pretty well at eliminating
the Doppler distortion but required offsetting the receiver tuning
for optimum results. Many radios could not accommodate the 2.5 kHz
offset. For example if the carrier is at 9800 kHz, the upper sideband
would extend to 9805 kHz. To center the energy in a 5 kHz IF
passband, the receiver would need to be tuned to 9802.5 kHz. Many
receivers do not have this kind of tunability. Offsetting the
transmitter by 2.5 kHz would make more sense but nobody wants to do
that for some reason.
4. Sync detectors can be used to lock to a partially suppressed
carrier helping to restore the carrier on the proper frequency. But
low frequency audio sidebands will tend to pull the sync detector off
frequency and, during selective fading, the detector can lose lock
more easily than if it was a full carrier DSB signal.
In the meantime DRM has come along with a digital approach that
offers a tremendous improvement in SW audio quality. Listen to the
archived file of Media Network from September 21 to hear the
tremendous improvement digital transmissions will bring. Even when
heard over the internet at a 40k streaming rate, the improvement was
very evident on these test transmissions.
So the ITU recommendation still is there but few governments are
really paying any attention to it. WGTG, or whatever they are calling
that distortion generator these days, is simply trying to appear
ahead of the technology curve while saving a few bucks on the
electric bill.
To bring this discussion back to program content, in my humble
opinion, the fewer receivers that can hear this station the better so
I am glad they are on SSB (Joe Buch, DE, swprograms Dec 1 via DXLD)
Dave Frantz has told me that (WGTG) is also digital-capable, so maybe
he will jump on that bandwagon instead of SSB (gh)
** U S A [non]. Subject: VOA via RCI Sackville
The international radio world is very grateful to Dan
Ferguson in making known in advance the unique and temporary
replacement relay for VOA on Sunday November 26 when the regular BBC
Ascension was unavailable. The two channels, 15390 & 17875, were
heard here in Indianapolis at a very good level, and the RCI tuning
signal for a couple of minutes afterwards would suggest that this
temporary VOA relay was indeed via RCI Sackville.
It has been stated that this is the first occasion in which
VOA has been on relay via RCI Sackville. This would seem to be
almost correct. Available information would suggest that VOA was on
the air via RCI for just a few weeks way back more than half a
century ago.
Back in mid 1945, soon after Sackville was commissioned,
there was a VOA relay over this new facility for probably a month or
two. At the time, RCI was on the air with just two RCA transmitters
at 50 kW, and at this stage, each new channel was given a separate
callsign, a rather confusing situation.
New Zealand DXer Basil Coombe, reporting in the Melbourne
(Australia) based "Listener In" states that he heard the new Radio
Canada on approximately 11.70 MHz opening at 8:00 am (presumably 2000
UTC). He heard the opening announcement in French, "Ici Radio
Canada", and this was followed by a program in German, which, he
states, was produced in the New York studios of the Voice of America.
The date for this entry printed in the weekly "Listener In" is May
26, 1945.
Supporting information in "Radio and Hobbies", another radio
magazine printed in Australia, indicates that CKXA was on the air on
11705 kHz and that it was noted by several DXers in Australia and New
Zealand on several occasions opening with chimes followed by
programming in German for Europe. Callsign CKXA 11705 kHz was on the
air for a period of time ranging from around March 1945 - August
1945. Several DXers in Australia and New Zealand also received QSL
cards for the German programming over CKXA 11705, and the noted
Arthur Cushen was the first to report this, in the September 1945
issue of "Radio & Hobbies".
Thus, it would seem that the Voice of America has indeed been
on relay via RCI Sackville, for just this one series of broadcasts
and for no more than a few weeks in mid 1945 (Dr Adrian M. Peterson,
DX Editor - Adventist World Radio Wavescan, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM. 1230 UT is another time we are faced with a sometimes
difficult choice of simultaneous English broadcasts from neighboring
countries. Thailand is on 9810, and Vietnam on 9839.36, as I measured
Dec 1 at 1248 during a talk about AIDS in Vietnam. Fortunately there
was nothing on 9840.00 to heterodyne Hanoi. Reception quality was
roughly the same, fair to good this date; high-latitude path varies a
lot from day to day. I am sure the two would not dream of
coordinating their schedules so they be consecutive rather than
simultaneous (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZIMBABWE [non]. 7215, Voice of the People (via RN-Madagascar),
replied by returning my ppc, giving away as little as possible but
agreeing that the power was 50 kw. Reply was posted from Harare, so
their mail must be getting through, despite the possibility of govt
interference. Presumably the local system isn`t as efficient as
Stalin`s yet, despite the similarities, i.e. rpts to the Harare box
address in NU 1592 have some chance of being delivered. I forget
whether I sent $1 or IRCs with my rpt, but it was one of those (John
Campbell, Great Britain, NU via CRW via DXLD)
Veri ltr from V/S who might have been J. Mukeke (unclear signature),
and who apologized for the late reply, as "the postal svc has been
erratic." In 11 wks (David Foster, Australia, NU via CRW via DXLD)
7215, Voice of the People, V/S looks like the same as quoted by
David Foster -- small writing, apparent attempt to make it difficult
to read (e.g. for people in the post office who intercept outgoing
letters and read them?). Quite possibly J. Mukeke, and at least it
doesn't seem to say R. Mugabe, but you never know (Campbell, op.
cit., via DXLD)
** UNIDENTIFIED. Hi Glenn, A few weeks after calling it the 'zoop -
zoop' noise, I came up with the windshield-wiper term: from MARE
Tipsheet #211: UNID 4800 0949 11/5 National Windshield Wiper
synchronization control? (Russell) This term has been shortened by
Mare editors. :-) (Larry Russell, MI, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I
was hearing it one recent morning around 4790; at least it was not
wideband (gh, OK, DXLD) ###